Lincolnshire is one ofsafest counties to live

That is the positive message from the publication of the latest independently produced crime figures.

A report by the Office for 
National Statistics ranks Lincolnshire as being the fifth lowest county per 1, 000 population for overall crime levels.

According the figures, crime in Lincolnshire increased by 10% last year - compared to a national average of around 15%.

Crime in East Lindsey increased by 1.13% year on year.

Within that, the Wolds Division - which includes Louth and Horncastle - increased by just 0.83%.

Crime on the coast went up by 1.30%.

Chief Constable Bill Skelly said: “We work hard in Lincolnshire Police to make sure we do all we can so that the residents of this county have somewhere safe and enjoyable in which to live and work.

“It’s encouraging to see that we are so low on the national tables in terms of crime rates and we’ll strive to make sure this remains the case.”

Mr Skelly welcomed the fact Lincolnshire record a below average increase nationally but said any rise was ‘worrying.’

The biggest increases across the county were reports of violent crime and sexual offences with more people 
than ever coming forward to report incidents.

Mr Skelly added: “We are a good way behind the national increase but, of course, any rise can be a worry.

“We’re doing our best to try and understand why that has happened, especially the figures in relation to violent crime and sexual offences.

“There are differing explanations for this that range from improvements in the way we record crimes, to the greater demand being placed on existing resources.

“One of the main reasons we believe that the numbers of sexual offences have increased, for 
example, is because the public have far more confidence that when they talk to the police, their experience will be treated seriously and 
investigated thoroughly.

“Recent high-profile media cases have contributed to raising awareness as we are seeing far more reports of non-recent sexual offences being made to us.

“There has been a rise in violent crime and we’ve seen national headlines recently in relation to incidents involving knives.

“Figures show that is something which mainly affects metropolitan areas and while we’re not immune to that here in Lincolnshire these types of incidents are incredibly rare.”

Meanwhile, the Lincolnshire force has made changes to the hours worked by its 
PCSOs that will see officers work an extra 30,000 hours at weekends each year.

Around 170,000 incidents are reported to the force each year and just under 30% of 
these happen at weekends.

Police say the presence of PCSO’s will help them respond to reports of crimes like anti-social behaviour which increase at weekends.